It's cold - but not officially

Fete du Froid, La Brévine

No one will doubt how cold it is at the moment – but has the record of the coldest place in Switzerland been broken?

Well, not officially.

The official record remains at La Brévine in canton Neuchatel. In 1987 temperatures plunged to minus 41.8.

The commune makes the most of its fame and every year holds a Festival of the Cold.  

But the record books only accept measurements collected by MeteoSuisse. 

An amateur cold hunter – Stephan Vogt – says last Friday, the mercury plunged to minus 42.3 in Sägistalsee in the Bernese Oberland. But it won’t be recognised as it’s unofficial. 

But even that may not be a record - again an unofficial measurement taken in 1991 in Glattalp in canton Schwyz saw temperatures down at minus 52.5. 

But La Brévine is still the official record holder and the cold festival is on this year next month. 

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